


Snow Blue

by KatelFireDemon



Series: Once Upon a Klance [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Snow White AU, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-06-22 08:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15577407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatelFireDemon/pseuds/KatelFireDemon
Summary: Princes Lance and Keith meet at an alliance meeting between their kingdoms as kids and starting as rivals they slowly become friends. Years pass and they grow increasingly closer. Just as sparks start flying and a romance is budding they're ripped apart. Separated and in danger they'll have to struggle to find each other and themselves while overcoming the looming threat to their kingdoms.





	1. Love, Hate, and Kittens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizzzzywest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizzzzywest/gifts).



> Presenting you with the Klance AU that literally no one asked for! This is a Klance Snow White AU and I'll be combining stuff from the Disney version and the original fairy tale, plus lots of my own ideas. Please be patient with me, this is the first work that I've put out and I'm not really sure how to go about this. Also it may take a while to get to the whole apple thing because the first bit will be building up Lance and Keith's relationship from when they meet as kids (mainly because I think meeting someone once and falling in love instantly isn't possible). If I feel like I ended up doing a good job I may write other fairy tale retellings after I finish with this one. I have no idea how long or short this will be so bear with me. Anyways, thanks for taking time out of your day to read my self-indulgent writing! I hope you like it!

Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the sky –well, actually it was the beginning of autumn and there wasn’t a snowflake in sight, but close enough right?— a small boy shot out of a carriage marked by a royal crest and dashed off in the hopes of finding an adventure.

“Lance! Come back here young man!” An intimidating figure shouted while stepping from the carriage.

“Let him have his fun dear. It’s his first time away from home and he just wants to have a look around,” a soft voice spoke from inside, “We have plenty of time before dinner for him to explore. If you’re really that worried about him getting into trouble you can send one of the guards to keep an eye on him.”

The man sighed. He held a hand out to help the woman down, “Commander Thace,” he turned his head towards a guard on his left, “make sure the boy doesn’t destroy anything.”

Thace bowed, “Of course Lord Zarkon.” And with that the Commander strode off after the young boy.  
~  
“Woohoo!” Lance shouted excitedly as he raced through an empty courtyard. The boy didn’t stop to survey his new surroundings having had plenty of time to do so during the seemingly endless drive down the winding path that led to the front of the Castle of Marmora. As they had approached the castle Lance noticed the giant stone wall surrounding it. The Castle of Marmora was a huge fortress built from dark gray stones and surrounded by craggy mountains on almost all sides. It was incredibly well protected. While it was a stunningly beautiful sight in the late afternoon light, with the bright colors of autumn contrasting against the dark stone, its heavy atmosphere and many fortifications made is seem like just the place someone in need of rescue would be. Noticing this last fact Lance had rushed from his family’s carriage the moment it had stopped. He paused in the courtyard he was currently passing through to dramatically strike a pose and pull back an arrow on his bow. He imagined he looked just like the heroes from his stories—they were always posing before leaving on grand adventures. Looking around for a target and discovering a small oak tree nearby, he released his tight grip on the string. Instead of whistling through the air and hitting the tree with a resounding thump as Lance had hoped it would, (he thought it seemed like the kind of dramatic effect a hero needed) it wobbled through the air and made a weak thud as it clattered on the cobblestone path a few feet away. His shoulders slumped. After receiving the small bow for his eighth birthday two months earlier he had been practicing nonstop, but was yet unable to hit a target.

Lance walked forward dejectedly. As he reached for his arrow he heard a distressed yelp and laughter; thinking it might be someone in need of rescue he rushed off in the direction of the racket.

As he rounded a corner into the royal gardens Lance saw two young boys throwing rocks and poking a stick up at a cat in a tree. The cat was obviously not appreciating this as it let out another yelp when a rock hit the branch next to it.

“You almost got it! Try again!” The boy holding the stick shouted.

Lance knew an injustice when he saw one, and this looked like his chance to be a hero. He started forwards to tell the boys to leave the cat alone when a blur of red and black tackled the one who had been throwing rocks. He went down with a scream.

“Hey! Get off him! Get off him! What’d you do that for?” The boy with the stick tried to grab the newcomer and throw him off his friend, but he jumped back with an alarmed shout when the black haired boy pointed a knife towards him. Fearing more for himself than wanting he help his friend, he ran away.

The remaining boy tried to wriggle out from underneath his attacker, “We weren’t actually gonna hurt it! I promise!” The boy sitting on him shoved his shoulders roughly into the dirt before jumping off and glaring as the other child scrambled to his feet and rushed off in the same direction as his friend.

The newcomer shoved his knife back into its scabbard and brushed the dirt off his red vest. Lance stared, mouth agape in shock. This boy had beaten Lance to the rescue! He hated him already. And what was with his hairstyle? His silky black hair was way too long in the back and looked unkempt. It dawned on Lance that the boy must be Keith, the Prince of Marmora –the kingdom he was visiting right now for the annual Fourth Alliance Balls— he had seen portraits of the boy and knew nobody else with such a ridiculous hairstyle. He noticed Prince Keith starting to reach up to coax the cat down. “Nope. No, you—No, no no. No, you don’t. I’m saving the cat.”

“Who are you?” Keith asked brow furrowed in confusion.

“Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance.” It should be obvious who he was, but he was just given another confused look. “Prince Lance.” He clarified hoping that would make it even more obvious than it already was.

“Really? Are you like, the prince of one of the outer kingdoms?”

“No, I’m the Prince of one of the Fourth Alliance Kingdoms!”

Keith’s eyes narrowed, “Oh, I remember now, you’re the bratty prince from Nalquod who’s failing his combat training.”

“Not anymore!” Lance shouted indignantly. “I’m an archer now and I can beat you and your knives in target practice any day!”

Because of the Fourth Alliance Lance had to be knowledgeable about the members of the other royal families in the alliance and he was well aware of the fact that Prince Keith was constantly praised by everyone as a prodigy in his combat skills. It wasn’t Lance’s fault he was almost a full year younger and had only started his training recently. He just couldn’t seem to keep up. He was always hearing “Keith this” and “Keith that” and about how he needed to “be more like Prince Keith.” Lance had decided to combat this skill gap between them by excelling in the one area that Keith struggled in. People. The only negative thing he ever heard about Keith was his attitude. While Keith excelled in his training, he also excelled at having a short temper and often scared his tutors away during his seemingly uncontrollable bouts of rage. Knowing this flaw of Keith’s, Lance put more energy into his skills with people. He actually enjoyed being surrounded by people and always felt out of place when days would go by without lots of conversation. He was the perfect little gentleman around adults and was often told what a charming boy he was. His only problem came with making friends, although one would never be able to tell. There were many times when he had thought he had friends, but he always discovered they only played with him because he was a prince and the families were hoping to be in good standing with the royal family. This didn’t stop him from being polite and playing with them, but he always felt that it put a chasm between them he would never be able to cross. He had no one his age to share secrets with or to confide his insecurities in. His biggest insecurity being he would never catch up with Keith. But none of this mattered because Lance was better with people than Keith was and he was sure that once he got the hang of his bow he’d be able to hit any target better than Keith could with his throwing knives—which was known to be his best skill.

“If you’re so sure you can beat me then I challenge you to a competition! Whoever can hit the target for the most points with five arrows or knives wins.” Keith shouted angrily.

“You’re on! Now that you’re my rival I swear I won’t lose to you in anything! But first I’m going to rescue the cat from the tree.” This started the two boys arguing over who was going to rescue the cat, Keith saying he had saved it from those boys and Lance saying he had seen it first; while they were butting heads, the cat jumped nimbly down and started to slink away.

Keith was the first to notice the cat’s absence. He stopped shouting and scanned the area.

Noticing Keith had turned away Lance shoved his shoulder, “Are you even listening?!”

Keith spotted the cat’s fluffy gray tail disappearing around a hedge and instead of getting mad at the other boy for shoving him he shouted, “After it!” and pointed in the direction it had disappeared.

The young princes raced after it, not really knowing why they were following it; after all, they had just been planning on rescuing it from the tree. But it was surprisingly fun running alongside each other, laughing as they followed it. It turned into a race with one boy pulling slightly ahead then the other catching up and vice versa. Following the cat on a path through the hedge maze they burst into an open area with a tool shed and a small vegetable garden. Glancing around the cat wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“I was sure it went this way.” Lance huffed out, holding the cramp in his side.

“Maybe -gasp- we took a –huff- wrong tur…” Keith started, but stopped when he heard soft meows coming from near the tool shed.

Lance and Keith looked at each other. They paused for a moment to catch their breaths. Breathing normally once again Keith put a finger to his lips indicating for them to be quiet and motioned with his fingers for them to walk to the shed. They crept forward slowly. As they approached they discovered a disarray of broken crates and barrels leaning against the side of the shed. There was an open area under part of the crates from which a fluffy gray tail and the corner of a tattered blue blanket stuck out. Cautiously they approached. Upon closer inspection they discovered that the cat they had followed was the mother to a litter of kittens. They were all fluffy balls of white and gray fur squirming around and tumbling over one another. They didn’t seem to be more than a few weeks old. Lance couldn’t help himself. They were just too adorable. He reached out to pick one up but yelped and yanked his hand back when the mother hissed.

After watching from afar for a while Lance noticed a little ways away from the rest of the kittens lay another. This particular kitten was a significantly smaller than its siblings and its gray fur was dirty and matted. It was obviously the runt of the litter and from the looks of it the mother had rejected it. Lance’s heart ached as it mewed weakly. He slowly reached for it; this time the mother didn’t give a warning hiss, so he continued and gently scooped it into his hands, pulling it close to his chest. The poor thing was shaking. How had it survived so long like this? He looked up, worry shining in his eyes and tugged at Keith’s sleeve who was mesmerized watching the other kittens. Startled by the tug on his sleeve Keith jerked his head up and saw the sickly kitten cradled in Lance’s arms. Noting the urgency on his face he grabbed Lance’s free hand and started pulling him back towards the palace.

They hurried back through the hedge maze, only having to back track twice, and into a servants’ entrance. As they went through the kitchen Keith saw a pitcher of warm water —probably for one of their many guests— and dropped his tight grip on Lance’s hand to grab it along with the fluffy towel next to it. Keith hurried Lance to his room. He knew nobody except a select few would dare enter and they’d have some peace and quiet while helping the sick kitten. Once inside he closed the door and plopped down on the rug, motioning Lance to do the same. Grabbing a small blanket from his bed he laid it on the rug. Lance gently set the kitten on the blanket. He then shrugged off the bow and quiver slung over his shoulder and set them to the side.

“You start washing it,” Keith shoved the water jug and towel towards Lance and stood up, “I know someone who can help.” He paused at the door, glancing back and seeing the soft look on Lance’s face as he started cleaning the kitten. “I’ll grab some food for it too.” He added before closing the door softly behind him.

After washing the kitten in the warm water Lance dried it on the towel and combed through its fur with his fingers. It stopped shaking when he bundled it up in the blanket and held it in his arms again. The room was somewhat chilly, and he grabbed a thicker, red, blanket from the bed and wrapped it around his shoulders. He scooted backwards so his back was up against the wall. The blanket was warm and smelled nice. He looked around the room. It was obviously meant for a prince with its size all of its intricate furnishings, but it didn’t feel very homey to Lance. It was very different from his room at his own palace. While Lance’s room had intricate tapestries his mother had woven hung on the walls in every place where there wasn’t a window, the walls of this room were cold stone with nothing covering them. Lance’s room also had all of the things he’d collected on his adventures such as shells and pretty rocks strewn over every surface. Keith’s room was practically empty besides the furniture. As Lance pondered the seemingly impersonal room that Keith had he shifted position a few times before falling completely still. While he wasn’t in the most comfortable position in the world, it was hard to keep his eyes open when wrapped in a warm blanket with a dozing kitten on his lap. He slowly drifted off to sleep awaiting Keith’s return.  
~  
“Shiro!”

The young guard paused upon hearing his name being called. That was weird. It sounded like Prince Keith, but the prince was supposed to be greeting guests with his father until dinner. Then again, the prince did have a knack for escaping social events. He seemed to avoid social interactions as if they were the plague and didn’t do well in forced social interactions either; his constant need of new tutors as proof of this. Though for some unknown reason, the prince had taken a liking to Shiro. After the young prince had barreled into him full force on Shiro’s first day at the palace he was now one of the only people Keith would let near him. So despite being a new recruit and only fifteen, he was soon given the position of Keith’s personal guard whenever the boy wasn’t with his father. Surprisingly he handled the young prince very well and they soon became like brothers.

Shiro sighed, turned around slowly and raised a questioning eyebrow at his charge. Oh no. He knew that look. The prince had that look of fiery determination in his eyes, and when that happened Shiro was bound to be in for a wild ride while following along with the boy’s newest goal.

“Shiro! You have a cat.”

It was more a statement than a question, but Shiro answered anyways. “Yes. Why are you asking?” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Had the prince done something to his cat? How would he have even gotten to him? Black was in his private room wasn’t he? Although, his room was next to Keith’s, and knowing the boy, if he had wanted to he would have been able to get in. Shiro was suddenly very concerned for his cat. He knew the prince wouldn’t harm him on purpose, but what if he had been having one of his anger fits while looking for Shiro and accidentally kicked his cat out the window? Well… that probably wasn’t the most likely thing… maybe he had just stepped on Black’s tail and felt really bad about it or something. Yeah. That was it. There was no need to worry, everything was fine. Although Keith was now looking at the ground shuffling his feet. Maybe everything wasn’t fine. Why wasn’t Keith telling him what happened? What if it was too horrible to say out loud?!?!?! Stop it! Shiro mentally slapped himself. He repeated his personal mantra in his mind, “Remember, patience yields focus.”

He crouched down to Keith’s eye level and put a hand on his shoulder. “Keith, what happened?”

“Well… um… uh, there…” Keith stuttered, suddenly feeling shy, “there’s this kitten… we… we found it, and it’s sick but we don’t know what to do.”

Shiro’s features softened. He was just trying to help a sick kitten. Everything was fine. Shiro started counting off the steps on his fingers, “First off, you’ll need to make sure to clean it really well, then feed it some warm milk every hour or so. And make sure to keep the room it’s in warm. Would you like to bring me to it?”

Keith grabbed Shiro’s hand and began walking, confident now that he knew Shiro would help. “I left them in my room while I went to get help and food.”

“Wait, wait, wait… Them? And earlier I remember you saying we. Who’s with you?”

Keith paused, suddenly shy again. “Earlier today I uh… ran into Prince Lance, from Nalquod. We found the kitten together.”

“Looks like you’ve made a friend.” Shiro smiled as he continued on past the prince. 

Keith blushed a deep scarlet that contrasted his light skin tone and let out a screech. “What?!?! No! He’s not my friend! He’s declared himself my rival, and we’re even going to have a target competition to see who’s the best!” He said the last sentence with a surety as if that completely proved there was no friendship in the matter. Keith had never had friends before and he wouldn’t know how to act around them even if he did, so it was just easier for him not to have any.

They stopped in the kitchen to grab some milk and firewood before making their way to Keith’s room.

“Lance, I’m back…” Keith said as he opened the door and stepped into the room. His heart melted instantly at the scene before him. Lance was curled up asleep on the floor, wrapped in Keith’s favorite blanket, with the kitten snuggled asleep against his chest. Keith slowly let out a deep breath when he realized he was holding it in. He glanced up to see Shiro looking at him with a knowing smile and he quickly crossed his arms and turned away with a humph. Shiro just rolled his eyes, sighed, and dragged his hand through the black tuft of hair on his forehead.

Shiro strode to the fireplace to heat the room up as Keith slowly approached the sleeping Lance and kitten with the milk he had heated up in the kitchen. Hearing the noise of other people in the room Lance sat up with a yawn. He turned his sleep filled eyes towards Keith as the boy blushed again and turned away. Startled by Lance’s sudden movement the kitten woke up and started mewing weakly. Noticing the bowl of milk Lance pulled it towards him, dipped a spoon in and started feeding the milk to the kitten drop by drop. It was too weak to move by itself so it couldn’t drink from the bowl, and because it had been sick from birth its eyes hadn’t opened yet. They stayed like this for a long time, each boy taking turns feeding the kitten until a servant came to announce dinner. Shiro promised to stay and watch over the kitten while the boys joined their families for the royal dinner that was always held the day before every Alliance Ball.  
~  
After following the two princes unnoticed for a while Thace decided Lance would be well enough off with Prince Keith and reported back to the Queen and Lord Zarkon. He informed them that Lance was being entertained by Prince Keith and he would send a servant to fetch them when dinner was ready. The Queen was delighted.

“Oh how wonderful! It will be great for the Alliance if the new generation of rulers can become dear friends. And Lance could use someone his age to confide in. You no longer need to watch him tonight Thace, I’m sure Lance will be on his best behavior in the presence of another prince.” The Queen smiled brightly while her husband stood silent.

While Zarkon was married to the Queen of Nalquod, he wasn’t the king, nor was he Lance’s actual father. Zarkon was a lord from a distant land who had been visiting Nalquod with a large entourage when the King had a hunting accident and died suddenly. Feeling duty bound to help the queen of his new found friend he stayed many months to offer what support he could. And while the Queen grieved for her lost husband she was charmed by the loyalty and respect that Zarkon showed and commanded from his followers. Needing someone to help lighten the heavy load of the Monarchy, she married Lord Zarkon. But because of the laws of the land that only someone of Nalquod royal blood could be king –unless there was no one of Nalquod royal blood alive— he stayed Lord Zarkon, consort to the ruling queen. Once Prince Lance came of age he would inherit his birthright and become the new King of Nalquod. Other than Lance there was no one of royal blood to inherit the throne since the King and Queen had no siblings.

Zarkon thought of his step-son’s new friendship with the prince of the Kingdom of Marmora. Powerful friendships between royalty such as this one could get in the way of his plans. But if he played his cards right it could work in his favor. Zarkon was not a patient man, but in this case he would have to wait to see how things played out.  
~  
The Fourth Alliance Royal Dinner was always an extravagant event. It was held four times a year, once in each kingdom of the alliance, the night before the ball. The royalty of the four kingdoms, and also some smaller kingdoms who were not a part of the main alliance, were the only attendants of this event. These events were held to remind everyone of the friendships between the four kingdoms and the tragedies of the previous alliances. Everyone in the kingdoms knew the stories by heart. The Fourth Alliance Royal Dinner always came after the ruler of the kingdom hosting the event recounting the story; and so Keith’s father told the story at this dinner as bards strummed softly in the background.

“Thousands of years ago there were two vast kingdoms that held much of the power in the lands. They controlled the commerce between them and the smaller kingdoms and played a huge role in the lives of the people. There were often disputes and small battles over boundaries and rights of commerce; to keep the peace between the kingdoms, an alliance was formed. This was the First Alliance. Though it was not called that at the time, for they were unaware of the tragedy that it would become and the other alliances to follow. Strict rules of who governed what were placed. Most of all there would be no fighting amongst the two kingdoms. A full-fledged war would spell disaster for everyone.

“They lived in peace for many years and the rulers of the two kingdoms became the greatest of friends. They fought off many invaders together and worked alongside each other to improve the lives of their people. Everything changed when one ruler decided he needed more power. It started small, with his kingdom taking over the smaller nations surrounding his. It wasn’t with bloodshed; mostly intimidation and threats of withdrawing resources. The other king turned a blind eye to this, not wanting to oppose his friend or start a war that would surely be this land’s doom. Eventually the ruler, wanting even more power, expanded the size of his army. Soon his kingdom was an empire, governed through fear. The only thing left standing in his way was his old friend. He knew he would be the most powerful if he could take his old friend’s kingdom. Though his forces were great, he could not gain control over the kingdom he longed for. His old friend’s kingdom refused to go without a fight. The people of this kingdom had deep connections with the mystical powers of the land and used it to their advantage. While they were a small force, they were a mighty one. It was a brutal and bloody age. The war raged for many long years until finally there was no one left to fight. The people of the two kingdoms had utterly destroyed one another; though the rulers of the kingdoms had vanished before the destruction was complete.

“Survivors from the ravaged smaller kingdoms grouped together in clans. They fought over the scarce resources and the parts of the land that were still habitable. Eventually the clans grew, along with the slowly healing lands, and four great kingdoms were founded along with many smaller ones. They often fought battles with each other, though nothing as horribly destructive as the War of the First Alliance. Soon the Second Alliance was formed between the kingdoms of Nalquod and Olkarion. To combat the newfound strength of this alliance, the Third Alliance was formed between the kingdoms of Marmora and Arus. As the battles increased between the two alliances the rulers realized something. History was repeating itself. They could not continue like this or the lands would be destroyed as they had been in the past. The rulers of the four kingdoms convened at a dinner to discuss peace treaties. Thus, the Fourth Alliance was created by combining the four kingdoms. The fighting ended and rejoicing spread throughout the land. A ball was held in honor of the new alliance and the rulers made a decision; to keep these traditions alive so nothing like the War of the First Alliance could ever happen again. The kingdoms decided to meet four times a year to solve disputes and renew friendships between the rulers. That is why we are here today…”

While Keith’s father continued speaking of the friendships between the kingdoms and how important this event was, Lance’s mind drifted elsewhere. He was excited to finally be old enough to attend the Fourth Alliance dinner and ball, but he hadn’t expected it to be so excruciatingly boring. Maybe the ball tomorrow would be better. He sat on the left side of his step-father and his mother sat on his step-father’s right. The table was round, so as to show no kingdom ranked higher than another. Ruling monarchs sat perpendicular around the table with their consort on their left, and any children to the left of their consort. Rulers of the smaller kingdoms sat in between the four main kingdoms. In these positions the ruler of Nalquod was across from the ruler of Arus, and the ruler of Marmora was across from the ruler of Olkarion.

As the first course was brought out and everyone started chatting Lance frowned. A few seats away from him sat Keith’s father, the King of Marmora. He could hear him in a discussion with someone about Keith’s studies. They talked about how well Keith was doing and as more people joined the conversation his eyebrows scrunched and his frown deepened. He jabbed at his food, annoyed. Why did everybody praise Keith so much? He wasn’t so great. Lance thought back to the kitten they had found. Sure Keith had helped him with it, but he could have done that on his own. Plus, they were rivals. Lance was every bit as good as Keith. Lance started shoveling food into his mouth angrily. His mother gave him a warning look and he slowed down. Whatever. Keith wasn’t worth getting angry about. He tried to tune out the conversation and put another spoonful of soup in his mouth. He was mostly successful and had calmed down somewhat until Zarkon who had just joined the conversation looked down at him, “Sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do. You’ll have to start training harder, like Keith.” Lance just about choked on his food. He grabbed his napkin and coughed into it until his throat cleared. He looked up at Zarkon to make a remark about how he was already better than Keith, but his step-father had already moved on from the topic. Looking around the table he found Keith who was sitting beside his father and looking down at his plate. He shot him the nastiest look he could come up with, hoping Keith would look up.

Feeling someone’s stare on him Keith glanced up from where he was poking at his food, only to find Lance glaring daggers at him. He was startled by the murderous look. He had thought that with the whole rescuing the kitten together thing Lance would have put their newfound rivalry aside for a bit. A little saddened at seeing the other boy so mad at him, but not wanting it to seem like he cared, he stuck his tongue out. At that Lance stabbed his meat, seething with anger. They spent the rest of dinner making faces at each other.

Once everyone had finished eating the political discussions began. Each ruler took a turn sharing the economic states of their kingdoms and any other important news that had happened in the months since the last dinner. After the updates were finished it was time for solving disputes between the kingdoms. Each leader spoke their grievances if there were any, a moderator kept the arguments calm, and the rulers talked through them until they found a solution that would work for everyone. The main issue discussed was when Lord Zarkon reported the barbarians to the west of Nalquod had been causing some small problems in the kingdom; though nothing big enough for them to need to use force against yet.

All this seemed to stretch on for an eternity until finally they came to the moment Lance had been waiting for with nervous anticipation all day. Every time a member of a royal family came of age to join in the festivities they had to be introduced before everyone at the first alliance dinner they attended. The current ruler of their kingdom would give an introduction and then the child –just recently turned eight— would say something or other about how honored they were to be attending.

During the last winter dinner held in Arus, Keith’s speech was said to have been sorely lacking. It had been short and not at all enthusiastic about being a future ruler in the alliance. His father had given him a stern talking to afterwards about how he needed to show that he was learning to be a capable ruler who would work with the alliance for peace between the nations. It had been particularly poorly received since in the previous year the King of Nalquod had suddenly died. Supposedly it was due to a hunting accident, but rumors had been spreading of the possibility of it being an assassination by another kingdom. Everyone needed to show that they were still working for peace and had no ill wishes against the other kingdoms.

Though Lance was young he still understood the importance of good relations between the kingdoms. Since the death of his father there had been unrest in his kingdom with talk of the possibly assassination. He was determined that his speech would be wonderful. If the heir to Nalquod could be shown to help keep the peace then everyone would calm down and realize everything was fine.

His mother stood, motioning for Lance to stand as well. “My dear friends,” his mother smiled, “It is an honor to be gathered here for another celebration of our wonderful alliance. As you all know, we have a new attendant to the festivities. I am proud to introduce to you my son, and heir to the throne of Nalquod, Prince Lance.” Everyone clapped politely, if not with trepidation. It was in everyone’s best interest that this went well.

Lance waited patiently for the applause to die down. His mother had warned him to keep it polite and short, so there would be little room to mess up. But he knew what needed to be said. “Thank you, for allowing me the honor of being here with you today. I am aware that tensions between the kingdoms have been high since the tragic death of my father,” Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Lance’s mother had paled. “I miss him dearly, but this is not the time to be suspicious of one another.” Lance looked around the table, making eye contact with each monarch who all looked down or to the side, not able to meet the young prince’s eyes for long. ”It was an unfortunate accident that no one could have seen coming. In these trying times, instead of placing blame, we must work together to move past these tragedies, or we will live to see the past repeat itself. I will take rule of my kingdom from my mother when I turn fifteen since it was my father who carried the royal blood and passed it onto me. I will strive to become a person capable of being a compassionate king who will listen to the problems of his subjects and work alongside them and my fellow rulers to make this land one we can all be proud of living in. I look forward to working with you and learning from you. Let us continue in this age of peace for a long time to come.”

There was a stunned silence in the room before applause erupted. It was an eloquent speech that they had not been expecting a child to make. It was as if the eight year old prince hadn’t been the one speaking, but instead his future self.

The applause died and Lance slumped into his chair relieved. He had thought long and hard about what to say ever since he had been informed he would have to say something. He had never been able to script anything out, he just seemed to know that he would be able to say what was needed when the time was right. He looked to his mother to see if she was disappointed—she never got mad, just disappointed. He knew she had told him what to say but he had known those few short sentences wouldn’t have really meant anything to anyone. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw her beaming from ear to ear. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle one of her disappointed faces like the ones she made when he accidently broke something or was caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. They always made him feel so guilty.

After returning the smile to his mother he spared a glance for his step-father who was sure to be proud of him after the speech he had given. He was surprised to find Lord Zarkon looking at him with a straight face, showing no emotion other than the corner of his mouth turned down slightly in displeasure. Lord Zarkon wasn’t known to show his emotions much, so Lance hadn’t been expecting a smile like his mother’s, but he was confused by the look he had seen on his face. Hadn’t Lance given a good speech and helped ease the tensions?

He was quickly distracted from this train of thought when he saw Keith looking at him with a surprised expression. Ha. Obviously Keith couldn’t possibly fathom how amazing his speech had been and was in shock from it. He stuck his tongue out at his rival.

Keith was awestruck by Lance’s speech. Expecting it to be similar to Lance’s arrogance in the gardens he had been caught off guard by the eloquence of it. How had he known just what to say? Keith had tried so hard during his introduction months before, but somehow it had come out all wrong. How had Lance eased the tension so easily? It was as if Lance was years older than he actually was.

Still staring at Lance in shock he was startled out of his thoughts when the other boy noticed him and stuck his tongue out. Ugh! Ignore his previous thoughts! Lance was still just an immature little kid who thought he needed to prove himself for some reason. How had he thought this brat had done something miraculous was beyond him.

Soon after dinner was ended with another short speech from Keith’s father. His father excused him to go to bed while the adults went to a large side parlor for friendly games and entertainment. Lance had already disappeared, so Keith headed obediently to his room, exhausted from the long day. On his way he was so tired he forgot the kitten was still in his room with Shiro. Opening the large mahogany door he yelped as he ran into someone and fell to the floor on top of them.

He pushed himself up a little dazed. Hearing laughing he turned his head to the side to see Shiro snickering while leaning against the wall. Then remembering he had fallen on someone he looked down to see the kitten on someone’s face. The person reached their hand up to pull the kitten off their face revealing Prince Lance.

Seeing who was on top of him Lance startled struggling under Keith’s weight. “Get off me you idiot!!!” he screeched as his cheeks quickly turned a rosy brown due to his blush.

Keith scrambled to get off him becoming a flustered and blushing mess himself and tripping again in his haste to get up. Shiro was gasping for breath by the time they untangled themselves. Scooping the kitten into one arm Lance jabbed a finger into Keith’s chest and said “Tomorrow. Meet me in the shooting range after lunch for our competition.” And with that he stormed from the room.

Flopping down on his huge bed Keith groaned. He had forgotten Lance’s promise of a competition before the ball. It wasn’t that Keith was afraid he’d lose, he was just annoyed with Lance’s insistence with this dumb rivalry. He didn’t understand why Lance wanted to beat him so much.

Shiro smirked “Looks like you have a busy day tomorrow.”

Keith let out a small frustrated scream and threw a pillow at Shiro’s face. It would have hit its mark but Shiro just caught it and threw it back, hitting his charge square in the face. “Goodnight Keith. Get some rest, you’ll need it.” And boy would he ever. Dealing with Lance for one day had exhausted him completely. Staring at the ceiling in the dark long after Shiro left he thought about Lance. He was annoying, but there had been times where he felt like they had been enjoying each other’s company; like when they were running through the hedge maze chasing the cat and caring for the kitten in his room. But then there were the other times like the arguing when they first met and later during dinner and back in Keith’s room again. He blushed again when he remembered he had fallen on Lance. Furiously he rubbed his cheeks trying to make the heat from the blush go away. He didn’t understand why his face kept growing hot whenever he thought about that moment. Maybe he was just starting to get sick. Yeah, that was it. He elected to ignore the feeling until Lance had returned home. He couldn’t risk being sick when he had been challenged to a competition. Maybe Lance was just so annoying he was making Keith sick. Whatever this feeling was he would ignore it until it went away. Luckily he would only have to deal with Lance for a few days each year. This weird feeling wouldn’t last long, he was sure of it.

Eventually he drifted off to sleep having a strange dream. He was walking through a forest and found an empty cottage. Walking farther into the trees he found Shiro and six other people he didn’t know surrounding something he couldn’t quite see. They all turned to look at him. Most of them had tear tracks down their faces making it obvious they had been crying, but he didn’t understand why or what they were crying about. Oh well. It was only a dream. He forgot about it by morning.

Little did Keith know this was only the beginning.


	2. Suddenly, Chickens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chickens.  
> That's literally all there is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to get a second chapter out! I've had a lot going on with my best friend's wedding, my sister's wedding, school starting, and other things. For the few of you who are interested enough to continue reading this I'll try to post the chapters more frequently. Also sorry about how long this part is being. I didn't expect there to be enough stuff to write about from their childhood. Anyways, the next chapter will for sure have the contest and the ball and their goodbyes until the next Alliance gathering. The chapter after that will most definitely be a time jump to when they're a bit older (probably 14 or 15) but I'm still trying to decide if I want to put a bit more of the early years of their developing friendship first or save those for certain stuff that happens later. I'd love to know what you would like to see so send in a comment if you have any ideas. You guys are the best! Keep being your awesome selves! (Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman)

“Mmph!” Lance woke in a panic.

There was something furry on his face! Whatever it was stretched right across his face, covering his mouth and one eye. Slowly he opened his uncovered eye only to see a small ball of gray fluffiness on him. Oh. The Kitten. He let out a deep breath, sighing with the relief of knowing it wasn’t some strange thing trying to smother him. He had set the kitten on the pillow next to his to sleep and it must have rolled onto him seeking his body heat.

Carefully reaching up he grabbed the kitten and set it in his lap, drawing himself up into a sitting position. He gazed down at it, “You need a name, don’t you? I can’t just call you kitten forever.”

He closed his eyes and scrunched his face up in deep thought. What would be an appropriate name for her? Shiro had informed them that it was a girl yesterday while they were feeding it. She needed a pretty name. She was his little lady after all and couldn’t be stuck with a name that didn’t fit her.

Thinking back to when he first found her he tried to recall everything that had been there and had happened. Let’s see, there was the garden. He could name her after a flower. But she didn’t really look like a flower. She was small and fluffy and gray; more of a silvery gray now that she was clean. He had never seen any silver flowers. What else had there been? Keith had been there… No. He wasn’t about to go ask that stuck up jerk for ideas. He just needed to think harder.

He glanced down again. Fluffy. That was the only word coming to mind, but he couldn’t name her that! A thousand other cats must have that name, so his couldn’t have it because she was one of a kind. Suddenly he remembered the tattered and faded blue blanket the kittens had been on. Blankets were fluffy. And that one had been tattered and faded, kind of like the kitten when they first found her. Blue! That was it! The color of that blanket. Looking at the kitten the silvery gray fur could almost be imagined to be a really pale blue if you looked hard enough. Blue. It was a lovely color that his mother always wore, and if his mother wore it then it was obviously befitting of a high ranking woman. Yes. His little lady would forever from this moment on be known as Blue.

Food. She was probably hungry. Although much improved, Blue was still very weak and needed milk constantly. Shiro had come a few times throughout the night to bring her milk since Lance would have had a hard time sneaking out of his room and down to the kitchens in the dark where he would inevitably get lost and wander the castle trying to find his way back for the rest of the night. It was really nice of Shiro to do that for him. The young guard was very considerate and Lance smiled thinking of him. He and Keith had acted like brothers, teasing each other and joking around. Lance wished he had a sibling like Shiro, or even just someone as close to him as Shiro and Keith seemed to be. He sighed. Maybe in another life.

All of a sudden there was a knock on his door. He panicked slightly knowing that if Lord Zarkon discovered Blue she would probably be taken away. His step-father wasn’t cruel, just strict.

He quickly made a wall of pillows in front of Blue, finishing right as the door opened. A servant strode in carrying a tray with breakfast on it. He set in on the small table in the room and left as quickly as he had come. After the door closed with a harsh thump, Lance picked Blue up and walked over to the tray to see what food was on it. Luckily there was a cup of milk. He spent the next little while dripping milk into Blue’s mouth until she wouldn’t take anymore.

After devouring the rest of the food, Lance looked around in search of a way that he could safely carry Blue around with him without others noticing. He set Blue on his bed and rummaged through his trunk of things he had brought on the trip. He found the empty satchel that his cook, Mima, had slipped him filled with treats back home before the journey to the Kingdom of Marmora.

“Growing boys need lots of food if they want to be the best,” she had said, slipping it to him with a wink when his parents weren’t looking. Mima was one of the many cooks employed at the castle—specifically in charge of breads and pastries—and she was one of Lance’s favorite people. She was always slipping him tarts and other treats. Whenever he got hurt he would go to her. After wiping her floury hands on her apron she would pull him into a hug and he’d try to wrap his small arms around her wide girth. Then she’d patch him up and send him on his way. She was like a second mother to him.

Don’t get him wrong, he loved his real mother, but she was the ruling monarch of Nalquod, which meant she was often very busy. And while she’d always make room to spend time with him when he asked he knew she would then stay up late getting caught up on all she had missed because of him. It was better not to bother her in the first place. He didn’t want to be the cause of her overworking herself, especially with how poor her health often was. So he would go to Mima for comfort instead.

Imagine that comforting feeling when you’re sitting in front of a fire or wrapped up in a blanket all warm and cozy or that fuzzy feeling you get when eating warm food. That’s how being around Mima made you feel. She was a large woman with arms and hands that looked like they could rip a log in half, but she only used them to wrap you up in the best hugs and to beat down dough. She always smelled like freshly baked bread—since she was always baking—and her dark skin and clothes were covered in smudges of flour. Lance had hoped she would accompany them on their trip, but she wasn’t needed on it since they were staying at noble’s estates who had their own cooks during the five day journey.

The treats Mima had packed away in the bag had quickly disappeared before the first day of the trip had come to a close.

Tipping the bag upside down caused the remaining crumbs to spill to the floor. Lance grabbed the small towel that was next to the pitcher of water that was brought for him to wash with and tucked it into the satchel hoping to make it comfier for Blue.

He looked towards his bed only to find Blue had fallen asleep again. Gently he scooped her up and set her into the bag. She wiggled around for a second, snuggling into the towel, and fell back asleep. Lance smiled pulling the flap over the opening and securing it. He slung the strap over his shoulder and carefully, so as not to jostle the sleeping Blue, rested the bag against his side.

He glanced at the empty breakfast tray. He had plenty of time before the competition which would take place after lunch. It was time to explore.

He stopped by the room next to his to say good morning to his mother. She was already dressed for the day in an elegant sky blue gown and was looking over documents she needed to sign. The work of a monarch never ends, even when on a trip.

After stopping by his mother’s room and her telling him to stay out of trouble he decided to explore the towers. This castle had five of them, and with how dark and intimidating it was there was sure to be at least one person trapped and in need of rescue. He ran all the way to the closest one and sprinted up the winding stairway. Gasping as he reached the top he flung the door open to find it empty. Disappointed he went around to the others becoming more disheartened with each tower he visited. By the time he reached the last one only to find another empty room he was exhausted. He sat down to rest for a while before deciding to explore the kitchens. There were always lots of people in the kitchens. Surely he’d be able to find something exciting to do there, even if nobody was in need of rescuing.  
~  
Waking up early as usual Keith decided to go practice for the competition. He set out for the armory to grab his throwing knives and set up a few targets in the practice range. There was already a group of soldiers sparring, but they ignored the boy as this was a usual occurrence. 

Kolivan, a high ranking officer—Keith wasn’t sure exactly what he was in charge of, he just seemed to be higher ranking than all other army personnel but somehow he wasn’t a general—was instructing the soldiers in their exercises. Upon seeing Keith he headed in the direction of the prince.

“My Prince,” he gave a small bow, “keeping up on your training I see.”

“Yes. I have a target competition against Prince Lance of Nalquod today.”

Kolivan gave a disapproving look. “Have you forgotten what I’ve taught you? Fighting isn’t for glory in competitions. It’s about surviving in battle.”

Keith dragged a target into place. “I know, I know. But he’s the one who challenged me and it would be dishonoring to my family if I refused such a simple challenge.”

“Very well.” Kolivan said gruffly. “Just remember that these skills are not for silly competitions. You may need to use them in battle one day and when that day comes I sincerely hope you won’t treat it like a game.” He turned to walk away but paused before he got too far, “Life is not a game to be won my prince. It is a battle to be survived.” And with that he walked briskly away.

Keith let out a disgruntled huff. Why did Kolivan have to be so uptight? There wasn’t a war going on. It was just a dumb competition, and plus, it would be more practice for him so it would help improve his skills. It wasn’t like he was doing it to show off or anything.

He finished setting up the targets and started fairly close then would collect the knives and move farther back after successfully hitting the bullseye with each blade. He continued with this for a while until he was too far to hit accurately. He collected the knives buried in the targets once again. When he reached for the last one his stomach let out an unholy sound. Followed by another screech. And another. Looks like it was time for breakfast.

Most nobility ate breakfast in the peace of their chambers, but since Keith always rose early to practice he normally stopped by the kitchens afterwards instead of waiting for food to be brought to his room. This particular morning as he neared the kitchens there was easily double the amount of people normally milling about getting things done. He wondered why until he remembered the ball tonight. They would probably be cooking for it all day to get everything ready in time since it was such a huge event.

Unlike the Fourth Alliance Dinner of the previous night it wouldn’t just be the royal families in attendance. It would be all nobility from the surrounding area. The only people not in attendance would be the common people. But there were no complaints among them since they would be hosting their own parties to celebrate the harvest and fall equinox. The four balls of the Fourth Alliance normally happened around the times of the fall and spring equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices. These were said to be blessed days where deities would take extra care to listen to and bless their followers. Many spent the day in quiet worship while others held public festivals and wandered around large bazaars held especially for the occasion.

The kitchens were packed with the preparations for the ball. Keith probably wouldn’t be able to stride in like usual and sit down inside to eat his breakfast. He’d probably have to slip in quietly and just snag a roll or two and be on his way.

As he wandered nearer the kitchens he had to dodge multiple people too focused on carrying things to notice who was in their way. After narrowly avoiding one particularly inattentive person he heard shouts coming from the kitchen. What was going on? He hurried the rest of the way and when he got to the doors of the main kitchen he saw pure and utter chaos. There was Lance—who was covered from head to toe in flour—running away from the head cook—also covered in flour—as she swatted at him with a broom while multiple people were strewn on the ground or picking up various dropped items. Lance seemed to be screeching apologies as the cook shouted for him to stay out of her kitchen.

Keith ran up to ask what happened but was swiftly swatted away with the broom by the head cook before he could. “All you young’uns are hereby banned from the kitchens until further notice! We have too much to do without you making a mess of things! Now away with you!” She whapped him again and he yelped in surprise.

Obviously the best course of action at the moment was to flee, and that’s exactly what Keith did. He sprinted off in the direction Lance was running. He caught up to where Lance had paused to catch his breath and stood for a moment catching his own.

“Why are you here?” Lance asked accusingly between heavy breaths when he noticed Keith had joined him.

“I was on my way to get breakfast when I was chased away with a broom! What happened back there? What did you do!?” Keith wanted to know why he was now unfairly banned from the kitchens and would be unable to get something for breakfast.

Lance looked at the ground and shuffled his feet, “I was only trying to help. There was nothing to explore in your dumb empty castle so I went to find something to do. They let me help in the kitchens back home so I thought it would be okay. I went in and saw some dough that needed more flour,” he wiped some of said substance from his cheek, “so I decided to help by putting more in… but I tripped while carrying it… and it hit that cook. I tried to explain it was an accident but she attacked me with the broom! So I ran… and might have possibly run right into a group of people carrying supplies into the kitchen and knocked them all down…”

Keith sighed and shook his head while Lance continued to dust the flour from his clothes. He wasn’t very successful. His once navy blue tunic was now light blue and his hair was practically white instead of its usual brown. He shook his head and a cloud of flour was released into the air making Keith cough. Keith looked down to see flour dusting his tunic now as well.

Keith was frustrated and hungry. He knew it wasn’t really Lance’s fault, but his temper got the better of him. “Ugh! You’ve gotten flour on me now! And because of you we’re banned from the kitchens so I can’t get breakfast!” Keith started stomping away to go change. He couldn’t go to lunch with his father in a tunic covered in spots of flour.

Lance followed angrily, “Hey! It’s not my fault! I was just trying to help! You probably said something rude to get yourself kicked out!”

They continued arguing as they made their way through the grounds and past the barns where the cows that supplied milk to the castle were kept. As they yelled at each other about who was to blame for what, they didn’t pay much attention to where they were going. Lance had just said a particularly annoying comment about Keith who turned his head towards Lance to protest when they simultaneously crashed into something. Since both boys had been looking at each other at that moment they had been unaware of the chicken coop right in their path.

As they crashed into the coop it just so happened that it had been in need of some repairs and they had managed to crash into the boards covering the holes to keep the chickens from escaping until repairs could be made. They crashed right into the coop and knocked the boards over, falling into the coop.

The chickens were sent into a frenzy by the intruders and were squawking and flapping everywhere. Keith and Lance hurriedly scrambled out the way they’d crashed in from with chickens following. As they righted themselves and looked back at the coop they realized most of the chickens had been set loose. After scrambling around for a few minutes trying to capture the chickens unsuccessfully they collapsed to the ground. Soon the chickens were gone, all having run off in the panic. Except for one who had decided to perch on Keith’s head which Lance lunged for and held onto tightly so it wouldn’t escape. They looked to each other and grimaced. How would they be able to catch the chickens? They couldn’t even see them anymore.

Lance looked around the area. Surprisingly nobody was around to witness the mess they had made. “We should put the boards back up before people come and realize we were the ones who set them free.”

Not wanting to be in any more trouble than he already would be with his dirty tunic Keith agreed. Working together they dragged the fallen boards back in place and released the remaining chicken inside before closing it up completely. “Now what? We can’t just let them wander around, we’ll have to get them back.”

There was a glimmer in Lance’s eyes. It looked like there would be an adventure today after all. They decided they’d have more luck in capturing the chickens together so decided not to split up and followed the direction they remembered the most chickens heading in.  
~  
They searched high and low for almost an hour, but there were no traces of the runaway birds. Where could they have gone? As they paused to decide where to check next they heard a voice calling their names. It was Shiro.

“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you Keith! And Prince Lance, your parents are looking for you as well. Your families have decided to have a picnic lunch and it will be starting soon. Wait…” He looked back and forth between them once he was close enough to get a good look at them. They were quite the sight being completely covered in flour, mud, straw, and feathers. “What… How… What have you been doing to get so dirty?!” He waited for an answer, but the boys had silently come to an agreement that they wouldn’t tell a soul what had happened. Shiro stood staring at them with an eyebrow raised in question for a minute before realizing he wouldn’t be able to get the story out of either boy. He sighed, “Oh well, it doesn’t matter right now. You had better go to your rooms and get cleaned up before your parents come to collect you.” He ushered them back towards the castle.  
~  
As they walked in silence Lance heard Blue mewling from inside the satchel still slung around his shoulder. He opened the flap and scooped the kitten out. He had taken her out for a bit during his explorations of the castle to feed her whenever she woke up. She was still too weak to do much and slept most of the time. She still hadn’t opened her eyes yet but she was obviously improving rapidly. She seemed to like it when Lance carried her or let her ride on his shoulder for a few moments. When he had stopped to rest he had let her out and she had taken a few wobbling steps and rolled around some.

Shiro was the first to notice the kitten in Lance’s hands. “I see you brought your kitten with you. Good call. Left alone in your room without someone to feed her consistently she probably would have gotten worse. It looks like she’s doing really well now.”

Lance smiled. “She likes being held. I think it’s the body heat that makes her like it so much. She doesn’t fuss or squirm at all!”

“I think after a few more days of this she’ll be able to open her eyes and move around. Have you decided on a name for her?” Shiro reached out to stroke her.

“I did! My little lady’s name is Blue.” Lance beamed, proud of himself for giving her such a great name.

Keith, who had been quiet up till now, spoke, “It suits her. Her fur almost looks blue and it’s also like the blanket the kittens were all on when we found her. It’s soft, like she is.”

Lance stared at him in surprise. Those were most of the reasons that Lance had thought of for naming her Blue. He glanced over at Keith, seeing him looking at Blue—who Shiro was currently holding—with a small smile. Cute. Wait, what? Keith wasn’t cute. He was a show off with anger issues. He was definitely not cute. Lance tried to push that first thought out of his head, but he kept seeing an image of Keith’s small smile. He had a really nice smile, but obviously didn’t smile very much. Lance found himself wanting to see that smile again, which was silly. They were rivals. He wasn’t supposed to want to make him smile.

They continued chatting about Blue until they arrived at Lance’s room. Keith was now holding Blue who was purring as he scratched behind her ears. Lance held his hands out for Blue and Keith reluctantly handed her over. As Blue was being passed their hands brushed and they both felt tingles where skin had met skin. Keith yanked his hands away, wanting the tingling in his fingers to stop. Lance on the other hand subconsciously started reaching towards Keith, wanting to feel the sensation again before realizing what he was doing and rushing into his room and swiftly shutting the door.

After Lance had set Blue down on the bed he looked at his hands in wonder. It had been such a weird tingly feeling, but it wasn’t necessarily bad. He found himself wanting to feel it again before shaking the thought from his mind. He poured water into his washing bowl to clean his face and pulled a feather from his hair. Today was turning out to be a weird day.  
~  
Keith changed into clean clothing as fast as humanly possible. His father was a kind person, but when it came to matters of the alliance he was strict about keeping up appearances so their country would be seen as one worthy to continue as part of the alliance.

Keith knew he was already going to get a scolding for his dirtied clothes that the maids would have to work on for a while to get the stains out of. It had been a new tunic too.

People and objects flew past him as he dashed to where his father was waiting near the doors to the gardens. His father gave him a stern look as they headed outside. “What have you been up to today? Keeping up with your training I hope.”

“Yes father.”

“Good. Now, let’s not keep our guests waiting any longer, shall we?” He motioned Keith forward.

Ahead of them was a fairly large group of people. The visiting royalty were surrounded by a swarm of servants all carrying baskets or blankets and trying to shade them from the sun, which was causing it to feel more like mid-summer than the beginning of autumn.

The servants led them down a winding path through the beautiful grounds that seemed to be clinging desperately to the last bits of summer. While the adults made small talk Keith and Lance fell in step with one another. They were both looking incredibly clean. So clean, in fact, that one wouldn’t have been able to tell of their struggles barely more than half an hour ago.

Keith glanced around to make sure nobody was listening in on them. Satisfied, he turned his head towards Lance and whispered, “Shall we forget about our… little issue for the time being and deal with it later?”

“Yes, let’s.” They both knew they would have to deal with it eventually. Someone would find out what had happened. They couldn’t conceal an entire coup of missing chickens for very long. Hopefully with some luck, they wouldn’t discover it was them who had released the birds. Though that hope was small since the evidence was all over their clothes they had discarded in their rooms. Shiro had also seen them covered in feathers, and he wasn’t dumb. He would probably guess what had happened the moment word got around about the runaway chickens. But for now, they decided to ignore the issue and enjoy this outing.

For the rest of the walk the boys found themselves discussing weaponry and quickly got into an argument about what weapons were best to use in a fight. They continued arguing until the group neared two great oaks that were casting copious amounts of shade and the servants spread the blankets. It just so happened that Keith’s family and Lance’s family sat on the same patch of blankets, so the boys found themselves sitting by each other.

After the arguing Keith tried to ignore Lance and listen to the conversation their parents were having while simultaneously devouring his food. It seemed to be about what to do about the barbarians down south who had been raiding small villages along the parts of Nalquod and Marmora that bordered the unclaimed lands that spread even farther south. Zarkon believed they needed to send a brigade of soldiers to wipe them out quickly while Keith’s father was arguing that it was too soon to use force and they needed to scout it out first to see if negotiations were possible. Zarkon seemed to be overpowering the conversation and was doing a very good job at making his point clear that he would be taking action in his kingdom no matter what. Keith’s father was handling it as well as he could by trying to advise him against it, but wasn’t making any progress.

Keith was about to interject and make a comment about how rushing a small army in would be dumb and it would work so much better with a small group of two or three people to see what was going on first, but before he could get the words out of his mouth he felt something small hit his neck. He instinctually stopped what he was going to say and rubbed the spot. It must have been a bug or something. He opened his mouth to speak again but was again hit—this time on the cheek—before he could get the first word out. He rubbed his cheek and looked around. He saw Lance to his side giving him a pointed look. “What?!” He whispered angrily.

“I know what you’re going to say. Don’t.”

“You can’t possibly-” Keith started, but was interrupted by Lance throwing another bit of bread at him.

“You were going to say that my step-father’s idea is dumb and won’t work then tell him scouts would be better.”

“But how-” More bread to the face.

“It doesn’t matter. Just don’t say it.”

“Why not?!?”

“Because the situation is already tense enough as it is.” Keith looked back to the adults when Lance said this. He now noticed that his father’s knuckles were white from him clenching them so hard. He was working hard not to let it escalate into an argument that might cause diplomatic problems. “Zarkon is stubborn and won’t listen to you even though you’re right. Your questioning his ability to know what’s best is just going to make him mad and cause him to explode in anger. And from the looks of it, your father is trying very hard to stay civil towards him right now. If you push him over the edge there will be problems.”

Keith was taken aback by this. He hadn’t even considered that. How had Lance assessed the situation so easily and remained calm enough to not burst out with an argument even though he knew Zarkon was wrong?

He contemplated this for a few minutes in silence until he felt something hit his arm. He whipped his head towards Lance. “What is it now?!?!”

Lance gave him a cheeky grin. “Nothing.” And threw a grape at him.

“Oh it is on!” Keith retaliated with a small chunk of meat.

Soon they were in an all-out food war, throwing most of their food at each other instead of eating it. Lance’s mother was the first to notice what was going on.

“Goodness Lance!” The boy froze at the sound of his mother’s voice. “Is this any way to act in front of others!?” He hung his head in shame and his mother pulled him over to wipe some sauce from his face. His step-father was giving a stern look of disapproval while his mother apologized to Keith’s father, who in turn said everything was fine and pulled Keith to him to give him a talking to about manners in front of the Alliance.

They sat and ate in silence for a while after that. A new and much less charged discussion started between the adults who kept a closer eye on their children until they were sure they weren’t going to start another food fight again.

That’s when Keith heard it.

The squawking.

It started out so quiet it was barely audible, but Keith was sure he had heard it. He held deathly still for a long moment, hardly even daring to breath. Then he heard it again; this time accompanied by barking. He glanced around. Nobody else seemed to have noticed the sounds of imminent disaster. He looked to Lance who was happily munching on a roll, their earlier food fight forgotten. He nudged him in the side with his elbow. Lance paused to look over at Keith annoyed and opened his mouth to make a comment about how it was rude to hit people with your elbow, but Keith put a finger to his lips; Lance realized something must be happening. Keith cupped a hand behind his ear and Lance understood and paused to listen. His face scrunched up in concentration until he heard it. His face paled. They looked at each other then looked around nervously. Everyone was eating and talking happily, unaware of the sounds of distressed chickens.

Keith silently hoped that nothing would happen and everything would stay how it was. Maybe the chickens would go a different way. His hope was soon forgotten. Much faster than he expected the sounds of squawks, barks, and yelling filled the air. Everyone was now blaringly aware of the alarming noises coming in their direction and looked around for the source of the noise. It was too late.

The chickens were upon them.

Screams filled the air as chickens rushed forward being chased by some of the palace’s hunting dogs, who were in turn being chased by some very disheveled and out of breath servants. Things turned south quickly. Keith’s father tried to calm some of the dogs to no avail. Keith and Lance were scrambling around after the chickens. One flew at the King of Arus right as Lance dove for it. He knocked into the king, toppling him and his daughter into a tangled mess of limbs on the ground before shooting right back up to give chase again. Blue was mewling pitifully from his satchel, unpleased with all of the movement. Most everyone else was running around in a panic or in the dirt being trampled by the dogs. The King of Olkarion was desperately trying to hold his plate out of reach of the dogs.

Lord Zarkon was one of the few who remained standing, supporting his pale Queen and looking very inconvenienced by it all.

A hoard of servants came rushing in to help get things under control. It was quite the sight to see with royalty strewn across the ground, chickens everywhere with people chasing them to and fro, dogs after the chickens as well as jumping on everyone, and food everywhere.

It took a while but soon most chickens had been caught and were being returned to their rightful place in the coop. Keith spotted one last chicken making a break for it towards the gardens. Giving chase until he was in range he dove for it and came up empty handed after it took a flying leap. He looked up from where he lay in the dirt. There was Lord Zarkon. Staring down at him with cold, hard eyes. The chicken dangling upside down from the foot Zarkon caught it by and flapping wildly.

“I believe this belongs to you.” He held the chicken out to Keith.

Keith let out an awkward laugh and stood up, “Ha ha… yeah…” He grabbed it and quickly turned away.

Keith didn’t know why, and he’d never admit it, but Zarkon terrified him. Especially with that cold stare of his. There was something off about him that he couldn’t quite figure out. It gave him the chills.

A servant collected the chicken from him and he heard his father call his name. Oh no. He knew. He always knew when Keith got into trouble. His father motioned for him to follow and started forward. He glanced back one last time to see Lance running to his mother with a worried expression before following his father.  
~  
“Keith, I believe you know something about this chicken fiasco?”

“Yes sir…” Keith mumbled.

He sighed. “I’m very disappointed in you. I don’t know exactly what happened, but if you couldn’t handle it I don’t know why you didn’t tell someone what had happened.” He rubbed the side of his face and let out another sigh. “As punishment you’re going to stay in my sights at all times until the ball begins. That means joining me to make sure our guests are recovering from the disturbance at lunch and finishing the preparations for the ball. Understood?”

“But-“

“Understood?”

“Yes sir…”

“Good. Now, we’ll check on the Queen of Nalquod first. She has a tendency towards poor health and that… debacle seems to have caused her to worsen. Let us be the best hosts we can.” He strode down the hall with Keith following reluctantly behind.


	3. Hidden Doors and Dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith finally compete to see who is the better shot. At the Alliance Ball Lance is courteous and Keith is Jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about being terrible at posting! I'm going to work on the next chapter this weekend, so hopefully those of you who actually like my story will get an update within the next week or two. You guys are great!

Walls and doorways rushed by as Keith sprinted down the hallway. Freedom was finally his! After following his father around helping him check on their guests a servant had been assigned to watch him so he couldn’t cause any more trouble before the ball. The servant had kept true to his duty and watched him like a hawk for most of the afternoon. There were still a few hours left before the ball and Keith had known he had to sneak away; he couldn’t handle those cold scrutinizing eyes staring into the depths of his very soul any longer.

At the first chance he got he took it. It had involved some crafty dodging skills and hiding on a windowsill at one point, but he had finally managed to give the servant tasked with watching him the slip.

Now… where to find Lance… For the competition obviously. Why would he ever want to find him for any other reason? He was annoying and had declared himself Keith’s rival, so why would he ever want to find him for any other reason?

After he and his father had checked on the royal family of Nalquod the queen had retired to her chambers to rest while Lord Zarkon and Lance had been taken off on a tour of the extensive palace grounds since Lance had never been to Marmora before. They would probably be arriving back at their chambers soon. Maybe he would find Lance there.

After weaving through the maze of cold stone corridors in the direction of Lance’s room he looked down a hallway to find Lord Zarkon and Lance being shown the last part of the tour by his father’s steward. Lance was trailing a few feet behind and slouching; very obviously not paying attention to a word the steward was saying.

Now, how to get Lance away without anyone knowing. He could just walk up and pull Lance away, but the others would notice, and at this point everyone was aware that Keith and Lance were not to be left unattended. The small group was just about to pass an intersecting hallway that Keith knew very well. He knew how he could sneak Lance away.

He quickly went down a few hallways and entered the intersecting hallway a little ways away from where the group would pass. He hid in a small alcove until he heard the steward and Lord Zarkon pass by, knowing that Lance was trailing a few feet behind. He waited until the moment Lance stepped into the intersection between the hallways and made his move. Darting out of the alcove he flung himself at Lance covering his mouth to stop the noise of surprise at being tackled. They landed out of sight from Lord Zarkon and the steward.

Keith still had a hand over Lance’s mouth who had finally processed what had happened and licked Keith’s had. Keith yanked his hand away in surprise and disgust.

“What in the world are you doing?!?!” Lance whispered angrily. “Are you trying to get me in trouble!?!”

Keith answered by pulling Lance off the ground and dragging him into an alcove with a statue of some previous king.

“Stop pulling me around and answer me!” Lance tried pulling his arm out of the tight grip Keith had on it.

Keith just rolled his eyes and grabbed the hilt of the stone sword on the belt of the statue. As he pulled it mostly out of its stone scabbard the wall behind them swung in.

Lance stared in shock. Keith let the sword fall back into place with a thunk and pulled Lance through the newly opened passageway closing it behind them. They were plunged into complete darkness for a few moments until Keith lit a candle that had been sitting on a shelf in the room they were now in. Lance realized Keith must come in here a lot because how else would he know exactly where the candle was in the dark.

“W… wha.. I… you ju… WHAT?!?!” Lance’s mouth hung agape.

Keith chuckled and started walking, “Come on, we still have a competition to do don’t we?”

This seemed to break Lance out of his stupor. He followed along behind Keith gazing around him in wonder at this newly discovered room. It was obviously very old and not used since there was dust coating everything except for a path along the floor leading to another passage way that Keith must use. There was an old oak desk with an ornate chair off to one side. Shelves covered with books and strange knick-knacks all along the walls with numerous maps nailed up. Everywhere he looked there were unlit, half-melted candles. This room obviously must have been used a lot before it was forgotten.

As he followed Keith out of the room along the passageway he asked “What was that room? Where are we?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Keith replied, “But I believe it was some kind of private study for someone. When I first discovered it I spent a while looking at everything, but most of the writing seems to be battle plans that don’t make sense and are for places that don’t seem to be anywhere in the four kingdoms. I think it must have belonged to a general or a spy or something of the sort. I mostly just use these passages to get from one part of the palace to another without being seen, that’s why there’s dust on everything. Not much to look at, but pretty useful.

They went around so many turns and intersecting tunnels that Lance knew he would never be able to find his way back out, but Keith seemed to know exactly where he was going. Surprisingly Lance was quiet most of the way. His mind was running wild with ideas of what the room was used for and why there was hidden system of tunnels throughout the palace.

After a while of neither of them speaking Keith asked “How’s Blue doing?”

“She’s doing great! My mother discovered her when we went to our rooms after the picnic, but she promised she wouldn’t tell my step-father. So I can keep her! Blue’s keeping her company while she rests.”

Keith glanced over at Lance. The smile had disappeared from his face, replaced with a frown and eyes filled with sadness. He obviously cared about his mother a lot and was worried about her health. Keith hoped that for Lance’s sake the Queen of Nalquod’s condition would improve. Keith had never known his own mother. The Queen of Marmora had mysteriously disappeared shortly after Keith was born. Although he had never known her he still felt the loss of her and hoped Lance wouldn’t have to feel that, especially since he had lost his father a little more than a year ago. How terrible would it be to lose two parents? He shoved those thoughts down. They were almost to the secret door near the training grounds.

After what felt like forever they finally arrived outside. Keith poked his head out first to make sure the coast was clear and beckoned Lance to come. The sun was blindingly bright and it took their eyes a moment to adjust to the brightness. They walked to a small training area where Shiro was waiting. Keith had convinced him to set everything up so when he was able to escape everything would be ready for the competition. Two targets stood on one end of the small fenced off area. Shiro was holding a set of daggers and a bow.

Shiro explained the rules of the competition to them. There would be three rounds. Whoever had the best score by the end of the round would win that round and they would have to win two of the three rounds to win the competition. They would have five arrows or throwing knives each round.

They stepped up to start. Lance shot an arrow first. It whistled through the air and hit the target with a resounding thud in the second ring from the center. Lance gave a triumphant shout. “Beat that Mullet!”

Keith payed no attention to Lance’s goading. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and sent two daggers flying in rapid succession. One landed dead center and the other not far off.

Lance gave an indignant humph “Lucky shot.”

Keith won the first round easily. Lance was disheartened by this. Keith was as good as everybody said. But he knew he could win if he tried. With that determination he was able to win the second round, but only just barely. At the end of the third round Shiro declared it was a tie. Nobody had won! They couldn’t just end it on a tie.

“How about a little sparring match to see who the real winner is.” Lance suggested.

“I already competed in your dumb competition, I’m not going to spar with you just because you want to win.”

“Sounds like somebody is afraid they’ll lose.” Lance smirked.

Keith whipped around, his temper running rampant. “I’m not afraid to lose to you! After that poor excuse of target practice you showed there you should be the one afraid to lose!”

“Hey! We tied! You can’t say I sucked when neither of us won!”

They were going at it again. Shiro rolled his eyes and grabbed two wooden swords. Maybe tiring them out would keep them from being at each other’s throats during the ball, then everyone could finally get some peace. He stepped between them handing each boy a sword. “Whoever disarms his opponent first will be declared the winner. Get to position!”

The boys stopped arguing and jumped into ready stances. Shiro gave the signal to start. They stood still for a moment longer until Lance took the first strike. Keith dodged easily. Their wooden swords clashed for a few moments; Lance striking eager and determined and Keith dodging every attack easily. Lance was soon on the ground desperately clinging to his sword until Keith knocked it away, pointing his own sword at Lance’s throat. The match hadn’t even lasted ten minutes.

“The winner is Keith!” Shiro shouted from where he was sitting on the fence.

Lance shoved Keith’s sword away from himself and stood up, dusting himself off. He grabbed his wooden sword and started walking away with his head hung and the sword dragging in the dirt.

Keith turned towards Shiro only to find him giving him a pointed look. “What?” Keith mouthed silently.

Shiro nodded in the direction of Lance. Keith turned back around with a groan. Lance did look pretty beaten down. Maybe he should go talk to him. But what could he say? He couldn’t tell him he did a good job, because he hadn’t. Why was it so hard to find a way to comfort someone? Maybe he could give Lance some tips?

Keith sighed and ran to catch up with him. “Hey Lance! Wait up!”

“What do you want Keith?” Lance snapped crossing his arms.

“I was thinking… maybe… I could show you some moves.”

“I don’t need any help from you. Go away.” Lance continued walking.

Keith looked towards Shiro exasperated. He was just given another pointed look in return.

“Why would I help you? No, rivals don’t help each other. It’s obvious that you’re just used to your own country’s fighting style. I was offering to show you some skills from a different country so that I can finally have an opponent my age who can fight in the same style I can.” Keith hoped that sounded more like he just wanted an equal sparring partner instead of wanting to help fix Lance’s dreadful skills with a sword.

Lance paused for a moment considering. “Fine. I guess it is good to learn many fighting styles. I’ll take you up on that offer.”

A wave of relief passed over Keith. They headed back towards the training area to work on Lance’s skills. They spent a while on correct fighting stances, which helped Lance’s balance dramatically then moved onto attacks and blocks. They practiced for almost an hour, losing themselves in their work. To finish it off they had another sparring match, but this time Lance was able to hold his own… for a few more minutes than the last time. He still ended up on the ground, but this time he was smiling. Keith’s heart did a little flip at the sight of that wide smile and shining eyes. Keith wasn’t sure what to do about this feeling. Maybe frowning would make it stop. Lance laughed when he saw the funny look on Keith’s face and Keith nearly died at the sound.

Lance stood up and brought his sword over to Shiro. “I’ll be training extra hard for our next competition, so you’d better be ready for me to beat you!” He yelled over his shoulder as he walked away to get changed for the ball.

“What next competition?!” Keith yelled back. He hadn’t missed a part of a conversation somewhere had he?

“At the next Alliance meeting before the ball. We’ll compete again!” And with that Lance was gone.

Keith stared after him. He wanted to do it again? What would be the point? Keith had already won. Why did he want to continue with this dumb rivalry? Was it possible that was Lance’s way of saying he wanted to spend more time with Keith? No, that couldn’t be it. They were always arguing. Why would he want to spend more time with someone he always fought with? It was probably him continuing the dumb rivalry. That was the only possible reason.

Keith jumped when Shiro clapped a hand on his back. “Good job Keith. That was very noble of you to help him. It’s so nice that you’ve finally made a friend!”

“We’re not friends. We’re rivals.” Keith said indignantly.

“Ah yes, not friends. Just rivals who want to spend more time together. Not friends at all.”

Keith rolled his eyes at Shiro’s sarcasm. Were he and Lance becoming friends? A friend… A small smile lit his face, but he forced a scowl when he saw Shiro looking. They had better go get ready because otherwise they would be late for the ball, and after everything else that had happened today he did not need to add another reason to be on his father’s bad side.  
~  
This was amazing! It was everything Lance had hoped the ball would be. The room was enormous, but it was still packed with people mostly crowded along the outskirts leaving room in the middle for the dancers. Glittering chandeliers hung from the ceiling casting golden light around the room. The windows had all been flung open to let in the cool autumn breeze and you could practically see up into the heavens because the sky was so clear.  
Brightly colored ball gowns made the room look like a rainbow come to life. The happy sounds of laughter echoed throughout the room making it seem even brighter. Lance was in heaven. And the music and dancing! It was magical seeing all of the dancers spinning and stepping in time with the music together.

The dancing was what Lance was the most excited for. He had been practicing nonstop for months and had memorized what seemed like hundreds of dances in preparation. The only problem was it seemed there weren’t many children. There seemed to be maybe only a handful of children within a year or two of his age. His mother had reminded him that he should dance with as many people as possible to make a good impression during his first alliance ball, and he planned on that; he would just have to ask some people who were older than him instead of just ones his age.

Speaking of dancing with people his age… Lance hadn’t seen Keith anywhere yet. He figured it would be a good idea to ask the prince of another kingdom to dance to show he really did want to keep up good relations between the countries. And there totally wasn’t any other reason for wanting to dance with Keith, like holding his hand again. Nope. Totally no other reason at all.

He scanned the room again but still didn’t see him. Oh well, he could find him later. The ball had just started, and there was plenty of time to ask Keith to dance.

The musicians paused for a moment preparing for another song. Well, looks like it was time to ask someone to dance. He wandered over to a Count and his family who he had been introduced to earlier that day and asked his daughter for the next dance. She was only a year older than him and seemed very friendly. The Count was overjoyed at the invitation for his daughter and started speaking of how wonderful of a young man Prince Lance was to the people around him as Lance led his daughter onto the dance floor.

By the end of the dance there was a group of nobles waiting to shove their children at Lance for him to dance with and he wasn’t able to break away for a long time after that.  
~  
In a corner of the ballroom Keith stood sulking. He had arrived at the ball to find Lance surrounded by a swarm of people practically throwing their children at him. Disgusting. It was obvious they were just hoping to move up in life. Lance seemed to be enjoying himself though, which almost made him angrier. Couldn’t Lance see they all had motives behind wanting to dance with him? If he danced with Lance it wouldn’t be for any stupid ulterior motive. But he wouldn’t want to dance with Lance anyways. Who would want to dance with him?

He continued to sulk in the corner and glare in Lance’s direction for the next little while. Nobody dared come near Keith with that look on his face. Everyone had also learned during the past three alliance balls that Keith refused to dance with anybody so they knew it was a fruitless attempt to try.

Finally Shiro found him. He took in the angry look on Keith’s face and followed his gaze to see who was getting the death glare. Upon discovering the pour soul receiving the glare was Lance he let out a small laugh.

“What?!” Keith asked, turning his deadly glare towards Shiro.

Nudging his shoulder Shiro said “You should ask him to dance.”

“Ask who to dance?” Keith asked pretending he hadn’t been staring at Lance for the past hour.

“You know who.”

Keith glared. Shiro crossed his arms.

“Ugh! Fine!” Keith threw his hands up in defeat. “I’ll go ask him to dance. But that doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy it.”

He stormed his way over to Lance at the refreshments table, who for once wasn’t surrounded by people. When Lance saw Keith coming towards him his eyes lit up.

“Keith! Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all night!”

“Obviously not very hard.” Keith muttered.

“What was that? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been wanting to find you to ask you something.”

Keith’s heart pounded. He wanted to ask him something? Had Lance been wanting to dance with him too?

Lance set down the apple he had been snacking on and held his hand out towards Keith.

“Keith, would you-“

“My dearest Prince Lance!” Suddenly the King of Arus barged between Keith and Lance. “You absolutely MUST dance with my daughter! You will find her to be quite an excellent dancing partner!”

He shoved his daughter in front of him. She looked to be in her late teens, and even though Lance was very much shorter than her, she looked ecstatic at the thought of dancing with him.

Lance was caught off guard. He glanced around the king at Keith. “I was actually um… but uh… maybe the next dance?”

“The Prince has refused the dance!” The King of Arus turned to his servant, “Start the sacrificial fire! We must throw ourselves in.” He turned to leave.

Lance panicked. “No! No sacrifices!”

“So, we may proceed with the dance?”

Lance let out a sigh of relief. “That’s a better alternative.”

The King clapped twice and his daughter grabbed Lance’s hand pulling him to the dance floor. Lance looked back and made eye contact with Keith, who hadn’t quite yet processed what had just happened. He gave an apologetic look and mouthed “Sorry.”

Suddenly the King whipped around to face Keith.

“Prince Keith! You must dance with her too!”

Keith panicked. He wasn’t good at dancing, and even if he was, he wasn’t interested in girls. “Why would I dance with her?!” Oops. That came out wrong. It was too late to take it back. Keith ran to hide and sulk in his corner again while the King’s servants tried to calm him down and convince him not to throw himself in a sacrificial fire.

He found Shiro by another table of refreshments, grabbed a plate and sat down to angrily munch on the food.

“Didn’t go too well huh?”

Keith grunted in reply and shoved a tart in his mouth. He motioned a hand towards Lance. Shiro looked over. There was Lance, standing awkwardly as the Princess of Arus did a weird dance around him.

“Ah, I see. He was stolen right out from under you. Oh well, you’ll have another chance after he finishes this dance.”

“I’m not going to dance with him.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just drop it.”

“Fine, fine. Anyways, onto another subject…” Shiro the proceeded to try taking Keith’s mind off it by rambling about random things and asking his opinion. After what felt like forever Lance finally finished the dance and made his way over to Keith and Shiro.

“Whatcha talking about?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just some training stuff.” Shiro replied. Keith was skillfully avoiding eye contact and shoveling food into his mouth. Shiro decided to throw Keith to the wolves. “Keith here was wanting to ask you a question.”

Keith choked on his food. He spent a minute coughing, then glared at Shiro. “No I didn’t.”

“Oh, well do you mind if I ask you one?”

“Go ahead.” Shiro answered for Keith, earning him another glare.

“Would you like to dance with me Keith?”

“No! No I wouldn’t.” He slammed his fork down and stormed away.

“Keith! Keith come back!” Shiro shouted after him, but he continued on his way.

Shiro sighed and turned back to Lance. Putting a hand on the saddened boy’s shoulder he said “I apologize for him. He’s not very good with people and I’m sure he didn’t actually mean that. Just give him some time to cool off then go talk to him.”

“Oh, okay.” Lance paused. “Well, in that case, would you like to dance with me Shiro?” He looked up expectantly at the young guard.

Shiro smiled. “I would be honored to Your Highness.”

Lance grabbed his hand and pulled him eagerly to the other dancers. As they danced Shiro would occasionally lift him up and spin him around till he was in a fit of giggles. Keith watched from the other side of the room, sad that he had turned down Lance and snapped at him. He felt it was too late to redeem himself by asking Lance to dance this time, but maybe at the next alliance ball this winter he could try again. But he still didn’t want Lance to leave tomorrow without making it up to him. He suddenly remembered a place that he thought Lance would like a lot.  
~  
He waited for a while then asked his dad and Lance’s mother if it would be alright. They agreed, just so long as Shiro would make sure they were to bed by a reasonable hour.

He figured Lance would stay until his parents left, which wouldn’t be for a while, so he grabbed Shiro and enlisted him to help set things up. When they returned there were a lot fewer people, though the ball was still going to go on for another few hours.

He wandered around trying to find Lance, but every time he caught sight of Lance he’d disappear when Keith got close. After trying unsuccessfully to find and talk to Lance, Keith decided he would have to catch him as it seemed the boy was avoiding him.

The next time he caught sight of Lance he charged forward before he could escape into the crowd. Lance was incredibly surprised when he looked up to see the person he had been avoiding charging full force towards him, so he did the only logical thing to do. He ran.

It turned into a full blown chase which resulted in a few dishes of spilled food and some bumped into guests, but nothing to cause too big of a disruption to the party. Eventually Lance made a dash out of the room with Keith hot on heels. Before they knew what was happening they were on the ground.

Lance had been turning a corner, but not fast enough with Keith following right behind, who then proceeded to crash into Lance, slamming them both against a wall and falling to the ground for probably the third time that day. They seemed to have developed a habit of crashing into each other, or into other things together.

Lance jumped to his feet ready to run again until he felt Keith grab his arm. He turned. “What?! What do you want?! Why in the world were you chasing me?!?”

Keith stared at the ground. “I’m… I…” He took a deep breath, “I’msorryforsnappingatyoupleasecomewithmeandletmemakeituptoyou!”

It took Lance a moment to process what Keith had just said. He considered it for a moment. Keith had been extremely rude when Lance asked him to dance. But it looked like he genuinely wanted to apologize and make it up to him.

“Fine, I’ll come with you. But if it’s something dumb then I’m leaving.”

“Thank you.” A small smile flashed across Keith’s face and any anger Lance had remaining melted away. Keith started forward pulling Lance along.

“So where are we going?”

Silence.

“Okay then… What are we going to do?”

More silence from Keith.

Lance didn’t let that deter him. He always felt awkward in quiet situations where nobody spoke since he had grown up in a bustling castle. If Keith wouldn’t make conversation then he’d do it himself. He started rambling about the dancing and the food and the colors and music.

Keith found himself slightly annoyed. Had this kid ever heard of being quiet? But oddly enough, he also found himself enjoying it once he got over that initial feeling of annoyance. Lance’s voice was soothing, and he seemed so excited about everything he had seen at the dance that Keith found himself delighted at the thought of the event Lance was describing even though he had been finding the actual event dreadful.

On their way they stopped at Lance’s room.

“Why are we here? Are you seriously trying to make it up to me by making me leave the dance early (which I had been enjoying by the way) and walking me to my room?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “We’re here to pick up Blue.” He figured that having the kitten there would help them to argue less since they both seemed calmer around her.

Lance ran into his room excitedly. His mother had put a servant in charge of taking care of Blue since she had recovered enough to attend the ball. His step-father was not yet aware of Blue’s existence. In fact, he hadn’t even noticed that Lance had escaped the rest of tour earlier that day. Sometimes Lance wondered if he even remembered he was there at all other than to give him stares of disapproval every now and then.

After retrieving Blue they headed on their way again. They wandered through the cold dark hallways of the castle where there were no traces of life. Lance soon recognized that they were at the stairwell to one of the empty towers he had explored that morning.

They wound up and up and up. Lance’s legs were burning by the time they reached the big wooden door at the top of the stairwell. They entered into the room. Lance looked around.

Nothing.

It was still just as empty as it was when Lance was there earlier. He didn’t understand why Keith took him there. He turned to ask Keith why they were there, but Keith wasn’t beside him. He had walked into the room and was standing by an empty sconce on the wall. He pulled it. Another secret door swung open and Lance gasped. At this point Lance shouldn’t have been surprised at the secrets Keith knew about his home, but it still amazed him. It was like an adventure from a book where the hero was held captive in their own home but found secret passages to help them train to gain the skills needed to escape.

Lance followed Keith into the now open secret doorway without complaint. He didn’t care where Keith was taking him anymore. They had gone on tons of adventures already and they had only met yesterday. It was much more fun going on adventures with someone else.

The passageway was really narrow and they walked up one more flight of stairs until they came to a hatch in the stone above them. Keith couldn’t push it open himself, so Lance came to help. They were able to shove it open together with a loud thud as it hit the stone.

A rush of cold air engulfed Lance as soon as the hatch was open. He climbed out onto the top of the tower and stood in awe of what he saw. He could see in every direction for miles.

Dark mountains looming in the distance, deep forests stretching as far as they eye can see, and if you looked close enough you could see the bright lights from the festival bonfires the nearby towns had lit for the equinox.

Lance gazed out wide eyes looking around in wonder. It was breathtaking.

Then he looked up.

Not a cloud in sight. The bright moon wasn’t quite full, but it still illuminated everything around it while swimming through a sea of millions of twinkling lights.

Lance stared up into the heavens in amazement. He didn’t go outside while it was dark very often so this was a new sight to him. He spent most days playing with the waves of the ocean and going on adventures, so by the time it got dark he was ready to sleep.

Keith silently watched the small boy with bright eyes that reflected the stars. He hadn’t been sure if Lance would like it or not, so a soft smile spread across his face seeing the pure look of wonder on Lance.

After a few minutes Lance tried to step forward to have a better look at the towns lit by bonfires, but his foot hit something when he took a step. Looking down he saw pillows and blankets everywhere. He let out a gleeful laugh and happily set to work arranging them for optimal star gazing pleasure. Once arranged to Lance’s liking he dragged a surprised Keith down into the nest of pillows and blankets and settled Blue down with them, moving around until everyone was comfy.

“Did you drag all of these up here yourself?” Lance asked with a yawn after a long time of staring up at the stars in silence.

“No. Shiro helped me set things up.” Keith hesitated for a second, then asked, “Do you like it?”

“Like it? I love it! This is amazing!” Lance snuggled further down into the blankets covering them. He yawned again. “Thank you Keith.” He whispered.

Keith turned to say something but found Lance fast asleep with Blue snuggled into the crook of his neck. “Goodnight Lance. Sweet dreams”

Keith stayed awake a while longer gazing into the night, but eventually sleep overcame him.  
~  
Hours later Shiro woke Keith and had him tie the pillows up in one of the blankets and drag/push everything down the stairs while he carried the still sleeping Lance and Blue.

Early the next morning a servant shook Lance awake and hurried the groggy child out and into his carriage while another servant carried his trunk down. The royal families often stayed a day or two more during the alliance meetings, but Lord Zarkon wanted to get an early start on traveling, saying there were important matters to attend to back home.

Keith woke again just after Lance’s family had left. He stared out his window watching the carriages until they disappeared from sight, disappointed that he couldn’t say goodbye to his new friend. Rival. No, definitely friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it took so long to get through their first meeting! The next chapter will definitely take place when they're older, probably around 13-15. The chapter after the next we'll finally start getting into the actual story of Snow White. I have a lot of fun stuff planned so get ready!

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, that ended up being a lot longer of a first chapter than I expected to write. If you've read this far thanks for sticking with me! The next chapter will be about the competition and the ball and I'll try to get it out as soon as possible but no promises on a date or anything because I have no set writing schedule. After that chapter there will probably be a time skip and the angst will start! Love you all! Have a great day! Or night if that's when you're reading this! (I know I've spent many a night staying up late reading fanfics) Thanks again!


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